In particular, the ski-boot is of the central-entry type whereby, in order to put the boot on a backward displacement of a part of the boot leg is required. In order to facilitate the entry of the foot into the ski-boot, the inner lining shoe is of the central-entry type, namely it has a vertical opening extending along its rear part from the top end of the upper up to the sole area.
Furthermore, there is an inner padding, rigidly connected to the top end of the boot leg, to cover the opening of the inner shoe and thus completely wrapping the lower portion of the wearer's leg. However, these embodiments have various drawbacks in that the wearer's leg calves may be and are of various sizes. In particular, for legs having small calves, once the latching levers of the shell are tightened, the tightening of the boot leg around the leg is not effective; vice versa, for legs having big calves the tightening operation is difficult and furthermore, a poorly comfortable fit is obtained.
Finally, both the shell and the boot leg have, in their front part, two opposite edges defining a longitudinal front opening extending from the toe portion of the ski-boot in order to allow the foot to enter into the ski-boot and then into the inner shoe.
The ski-boots according to the prior art have a tongue firmly fastened at one of its ends to the inner shoe to cover the opening. In order to further facilitate the entry of the foot into the ski-boot, the distance between the shell portion in contact with the instep and the shell portion adapted to house the heel must be much greater than the distance between the instep and the heel; in this case the contact between the shell and the instep is ensured by suitably fastening the shell around the inner shoe.
Owing to the non-rigidity of the inner shoe and to the pre-existent clearance between the foot and the shell at the instep, the transmission of the foot control movements to the ski through the boot-ski is not optimum. Furthermore, when the shell is tightened around the inner shoe and thus on the tongue, the latter hinders the tightening of the edges of the ski-boot and often causes localized pressure on some critical area of the foot upper surface; similarly, upon bending the leg and thus the boot-leg in the skiing exercise, the tongue may hinder the bending of the boot leg causing again or increasing the previously described drawback. As a matter of fact the tongue of the inner shoe of the ski-boot operates in the same manner as the tongue of a standard laced shoe; if the laces are tightened firmly and quickly without stretching the tongue, the latter is deformed causing intolerable localized pressure on the foot upper surface of the foot. However, in a ski-boot it is not possible to use the usual method utilized by a person who wears a laced footwear, namely to pull the tongue upward before tightening the laces, since the tongue of the inner shoe is no longer accessible upon starting the tightening of the fastening levers of the ski-boot.
The aim of this invention is to provide a ski-boot such so as to adjust itself to different calf shapes, wherein the contact between the shell and/or the boot leg, from one side, and the inner shoe, from the other side, is more effective when the ski-boot is fastened and wherein, at the same time, the localized pressure on the foot upper surface is avoided.